1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to computer-aided product manufacture and distribution and, more particularly, to a method and system for assembly, manufacture and distribution of custom "data" products, such as a CD (read only), CD (read/write), DVD or similar static storage medium (collectively, a "CD" or "CD-ROM"), especially a CD product incorporating customer-selected musical sound recordings.
2. Description of the Related Art
The standard model for the manufacture and distribution of music is well-established in the entertainment industry. With the explosive growth of the Internet, however, it is now possible to transfer large amounts of digital data electronically. Thus, the Internet has the capability of being a useful medium for transfer of digital data comprising sound recordings. To this end, it has been proposed to provide an "interactive" World Wide Web ("WWW") site at which users may create their own "custom" CD-ROMs. Using an interactive "fill-in form" type of interface, the user selects a plurality of sound recordings from a library or catalog of available recordings. Once the CD selections are made, the user is prompted for a credit card number. The credit card is verified, and the CD-ROM is then manufactured and delivered to the user.
Although the above-described system has the advantage of enabling a user of the Internet to create a custom CD product, there are no currently available sites from which a broad range of musical recordings may be assembled, nor are the sites or assembly operations scaleable to facilitate large scale operations. Moreover, such sites do not provide significant tracking, inventory control and other administrative and management tools to facilitate such a large-scale operation.
The present invention addresses this problem.